Battle at Alcatraz: A Desperate Attempt to Escape the Rock

by Ernest B. Lageson Jr.

One of the bloddiest battles in the history of American prisons occurred at Alcatraz in May 1946, when prisoners staged a breakout, obtaining guns from the gun gallery and taking nine guards hostage. The escape attempt was the cumination of months of methodical planning. But, when a last-minute glitch foiled their escape, inmates shot the hostages in effort to leave no witnesses. Before order was restored, thousands of rounds were fired by federal...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1886039372
• ISBN13: 9781886039377
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: Addicus Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

This book grabs hold of you and won't let go!

Gripping right from the start! This is a genuine first hand account of what happened behind those old walls, told by the son of an on duty prison guard. Ernie Lageson Jr. drives this battle right into your favorite easy chair. Told in such detail and realism, Ernie makes you feel as if you were one of the guards involved. I can't even keep my own copy around, everyone want's to read this piece of history. This book is gauranteed to stay in your hands until you finish it.

Reality that reads with the excitement of fiction!

Rarely does a non-fiction writer succeed in both authenticity and page-turning excitement. Lageson has done it. I'd like to know more about the trial that followed. A sequel perhaps?

The Best Account Written About This Event To Date!

Ernie Lageson has written the very best account of The Riot Of 1946. The events unfold in a manner that holds your interest and agree with the facts as I know them to be. My Father was also a Corretional Officer On Alcatraz during The Riot and shared his experiences with me. This is a Top Flight recounting of Alcatraz Island's biggest escape attempt!!

This is a late-night page-turner !

If you like history and drama, BATTLE AT ALCATRAZ will keep you up late turning pages. Ernie Lageson retells the story of the prison's bloodiest escape attempt over three days in May 1946, and he has a real insider perspective: he wrote the book from notes made by his father, one of the prison guards wounded and held hostage during the siege. It is a look at a simpler world, when San Francisco stopped for three days while its citizens climbed on rooftops and walked to the waterfront to watch the drama unfold in the Bay - a drama that could not be played out on television (1946 was a radio and newspaper world), but instead flashed on movie screens around the world. It's a drama worth remembering.

A fascinating account of both life and riot inside a prison

For all readers interested in or fascinated by Alcatraz this is the book to READ. The Battle at Alcatraz literally puts the reader inside the prison walls and into the hearts and minds of the prisoners and guards. This is a true story written by the son of the officer in charge the day of the attempted breakout from Alcatraz in 1946. It reads like fiction as the six desperate convicts search for a missing key. It leaves the reader unsettled wondering if a warden's decisions could have made a difference. A must read. A Wisconsin reader